St. Mary chamber honors top businesses

A St. Mary Parish business and community health center executive with ties to Terrebonne Parish took top honors at the St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce 12th Annual Installation of Officers Banquet.

Dugas Oil of Franklin garnered the Business of the Year Award.

Among its operations, the gasoline and diesel distributer operates Mobil, Texaco and Fina stations and convenience stores in Houma, Franklin and Opelousas, and has just over 75 employees, most of whom live in St. Mary Parish.

“Throughout our history, we have seen this economy change from full service stations to high tech pay at the-pump service, to the addition of convenience stores,” company president Edgar Dugas III said. “Without our employees, and most especially our customers, our business cannot be what it is today.”

Receiving the Virginia Tyler Guillotte Award was Teche Action Clinic CEO Dr. Gary Wiltz.

Teche Action Clinic is a federally subsidized community health center, one of more than 20,000 in the United States that see patients on a sliding fee scale basis.

The health center operates two clinics in Terrebonne Parish, one in Houma on Tunnel Boulevard, and the other near Ashland.

Wiltz, a New Orleans native, came to St. Mary Parish and to Teche Action Clinic in 1982, fresh out of medical school on a scholarship from Tulane University.

St. Mary Parish Chamber President Donna Meyer said through Wiltz’ efforts, the clinic has expanded to four other parishes with six other clinics, over 125 employees, over 15,000 patients and an annual budget of $12 million.

“The Virginia Tyler Guillotte Award is given to someone who stands ready to accept any challenge to improve the quality of life for our parish, someone who has a unique talent for motivating others, someone who realizes the importance of building a strong and viable business community. No challenge is too small for this person, and each project is completed in the total spirit of giving something back to the community,” Meyer said.

Last year, Wiltz was also voted Chairman-elect of the National Association of Community Health Centers, the parent organization of the non-profit organizations that call themselves a crucial stop in health care prevention for patients, which in turn saves in health care expenses locally and nationwide in the country’s hospitals.

Wiltz said that NACHC advises the U.S. Congress and the President on primary care and long-term health care issues.

“No man is an island, and that is certainly in the case of me,” he said. “Our hardworking employees and our Board of Directors have made our work a very humbling experience.”

“We are the best of your federal dollars at work for you, through the generous support of the President and Congress. Because of what they do in Washington, we are able to help people.”

The Chez Hope family and domestic violence center, founded in 1983, won the Non-Profit Community Service Award from the Chamber. Chez Hope also has an outreach center in Thibodaux that serves the Lafourche and Assumption parish areas. Combined, the agency helped 1,200 survivors of domestic violence last year.

The St. Mary Chamber also swore in its 2012 Chairman and Vice Chairman, Jeremy Callais and Jason Bailey of MC Bank & Trust, and its Treasurer, Barbara Watts of the accounting firm of Darnall, Sikes, Gardes & Frederick.

Callais said he is planning an ambitious year. “You can expect more events, more training sessions and more opportunities from the Chamber to the businesses in St. Mary Parish, so that we can better provide the tools they need in order to operate more efficiently and successfully in these trying times.”

Also taking office at the banquet were 2012 St. Mary Parish Board of Directors: Ryan Baudry of the firm Aloise, Baudry & Tabb LLC of Franklin; Jessie Breaux Jr., of the St. Mary Sugar Co-Op; Khary Gaylord of Columbian Chemicals Company; former Chamber Chairman Rose Arceneaux; Scott Berry and Raymond “Peetey” Wade II of Omega Waste Management, Inc of Patterson; St. Mary Parish Economic Development Director Frank Fink; Teche Regional Medical Center CEO James “Butch” Frazier; Bob Lewis of Cap’n Bob’s Shipyard Services, and Robert Sampey II of Cameron.